WOW! I feel like Rip Van Winkle who woke up from a 20 year nap! It has been over 3 months since my last blog post, which most people - myself included- would say is a complete no-no in the blogging world. In order to explain my absence, I could say that I was doing an experiment to see what effect it would have, but I would by lying to ya'll which isn't ever a good thing. However, I did learn a few things that you may be interested in:
1. Not posting has not changed my daily stats in a major way- only about 1%. Although that seems surprising, if you have a few 'cornerstone posts' that offer basic information that does not change over time, people will continue to find you long after your post hits the archives. This is another reason why great tags and keywords are important.
2. Nobody got mad at me, and said Hey, where have you been. This could be good or bad, but I didn't have people unsubcribe due to my lack of activity. In fact, posting again might remind a few people that they want to unsubscribe, but that is OK with me, I only want people on my list who want to be on my list.
3. I think that although there are guidelines for building your blog and readership, the most important guideline is YOU. What do YOU feel comfortable with? If you are blogging out of guilt and because you have to, I am not sure you are going to attract a huge following by guilt posting.
4. Bark with Purpose! I think if you don't have anything that you feel compelled to write about, just wait until you get a burst of inspriration. If you have ignored your blog for awhile, you may be better off going through old posts and re-tag and reposting them to give you some fresh search criteria. Who knows, maybe you will get a great idea or two along the way!
What a great topic for a post, and an important one. As soon as I saw the title I thought, "Thank goodness someone else is thinking about this, too." Yes, I noticed how long it had been since your last post. BUT, you're right: I wasn't concerned, and I didn't worry about it. It's not as if we all don't get enough email everyday. In fact, it was a relief to know that there are popular,
successful bloggers out there who don't bombard their subscribers with...as you say...the post that they HAD to write that day. This was a refreshing and worthwhile message. It's why I subscribed in the first place: to get information I can benefit from. Thank you, Kirsten!
Posted by: Whit Whitten | February 09, 2008 at 11:05 PM